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Reviews
Fase 7 (2010)
Nice, Intriguing Plot
This exciting, low-budget Argentine film by Nicolas Goldbart revolves a young couple, Coco (Daniel Hendler) and Pipi (Jazmin Stuart) living in a small, high middle class apartment complex in present-day Buenos Aires City. Suddenly, the whole edifice where they live is under quarantine due to a strange high-mortality epidemic that affects the lungs of its victims. Thus, Coco and Pipi find themselves prisoners of their own apartment. The same goes for their colorful neighbors. All residents, the local sanitary authorities declare, must remain in their apartments until the quarantine is over. None knows how long would that be. Soon food supplies start to run short. Internet is down; so is television. Things take a turn for the worse and the disease becomes a global pandemic. Authorities everywhere –we learn-- are overwhelmed in a matter of days or perhaps weeks. As millions of thousands of people begin to die worldwide, a state of complete chaos and anarchy follows. A maximum stage alert (Phase 6) is declared by the World Health Organization. Yet things get even worse. The apartment complex mirrors society as a whole as the desperate and paranoid neighbors start making alliances and turning on each other with deadly intentions . . .
Boogie, el aceitoso (2009)
Nearly Excellent . . .
This is not a movie for anyone. It is mainly targeted to an audience that has read at least some of the thousands comics of "Boggie el aceitoso," Spanish for 'Oily Boogie.' Created by the late Argentine cartoonist Roberto Fontanarrosa, Boogie parodies the American stereotype of the macho, tough guy American hero.
Faithful to the aforementioned comics, which started being published in South America in 1974 and ended in 1995, Boogie is presented as a anti-hero who lives as a callous and merciless hit man in what appears to be New York City. Oily Boogie is thus a gun-for-hire and he couldn't care less about the target as long as the money being offered is good enough.
In this low budget yet highly original movie, Oily Boogie is the ultimate sociopath: a rude, uncouth, chauvinistic, misogynistic, warmongering alpha male. The script is very well done and it greatly helps to enhance all these negatives tendencies in Oily Boogie.
Jingoistic people should abstain to see this movie because, undoubtedly, they will find it offensive and grossly anti-American. Indeed, cartoonist Fontanarrosa was highly critical of the many wars the United States was involved in ---Vietnam in particular. Oily Boogie is an extreme version of the "Ugly American" seen by the eyes of anti-war cartoonist from Rosario, Argentina.
The movie is fast-paced, funny and somewhat unpredictable. Its violence is so extreme is laughable, and the main character, Oily Boogie, is so cynical it can make the audience laugh or just leave the theater...
Mongol (2007)
Good -- Though It Could Have Benefited from Historians'advices
This is a gorgeous movie, with great photography filmed in breath-taking locations. Since Mongols had no written language and no one was taking notes while Temudgin (or Temujin) was alive. Thus, most of his early life is just mere speculation, so I cannot complain about the director's interpretation of Tedmudgin's younger years or the importance he places in the role of his wife Borte (or Bortei). We know next to nothing about this early period of Temudgin's life. The most important written source, "The Secret History of the Mongols" was penned at least 14 years after his death. Hence, Truth and Fiction are intrinsically intertwined for ever . . .
Although I tried to overlooked them, the following is a list of inaccuracies that really bugged me:
1) In the film, the actors use European HORSES, not Mongolian ponies because the latter are much harder to ride. Well, that is what accomplished extras and stunt-men are for.
2) Mongols shaved most of their head to avoid lice. They retained some patches of hair in their forehead but that's about it. Most have pony-tails at the back of their heads. In the film, most actors did not shave their heads.
3) Mongols did not wear beards, also to avoid lice. They did wear long, thin mustaches. In the film, most actors, including the protagonist, wear beards.
4) An important percentage of Mongols displayed ritual scars on their cheeks, as proof of manhood. In the film, we don't see these scars. Bad aesthetics??
5) Mongols used very elaborated composite bows capable of shooting an arrow up to 500 yards. The bows used in this film did not have the distinctive shape of the composite arrows. Worse: in the film, the Merkits use crappy bows.
6) Mongols hardly ever engaged in close combat with swords, much less on foot. As the great riders they were, Mongols only dismounted from their horses when they had no other choice.
It is interesting to see this entertaining movie in conjunction with Discovery Channel's impressive documentary on the life of Genghis Khan.
28 Weeks Later (2007)
It could have been a great film!!! Pity it wasn't
In this sequel, new director Juan Carlos Frescadillo focuses on the reconstruction of London after the infection of Virus Rage is apparently gone. To ensure this purpose, the US Army takes full control of the situation. Hence, the repopulating London's Isle of Dogs appears to be an easy task.
The place seems perfectly safe and secured. All the infected are presumed dead, so the US Army reasoned, because of prolonged starvation, which they estimate at 5 weeks tops. However, this turns out not to be the case. The mighty, overly confident US Army has overlooked gene mutation. Alice, survivor and mother of two, has heterochromia, a rare genetic trait in the retina that gives her immunity to the Rage Virus. Thus, when she is rescued and brought to Isle of Dogs, it is only a matter of time before all hell breaks loose. Again.
Medical officer Scarlet, apparently the only one with brains in the US Army, quickly realizes that Alice may be the key to finding a desperately needed antidote. Her moronic Commader-in-Chief thinks otherwise. "If you want to perform experiments", the top military responds to Scarlet, "do it with her dead body."
After recklessly kissing his recently rescued wife Alice, Don (who had escaped the first infection and has access to most places in Isle of Dogs) gets infected and begins spreading the deadly disease. Soon the ubiquitous zombies start the carnage within the narrow confines of the jealously guarded island.
There is more. Don's twelve-year old son Andy is also immune to the disease. Bitten by his own zombie father, Andy remains normal. Too bad, no one except for Dr. Scarlet is paying attention. And since the restricted area is out of control, Red Code is put into effect from above. That means to "kill/destroy/obliterate" all the settlers. So the gore reaches its climax too early in the film.
The best part is when the military, who can't distinguish normal from infected, start the massacre. I only wish this part had more built-up tension. Also, it would have been great to have this psychologically powerful scene closer to the end.
Please, don't get me wrong ----overall, the movie is beautifully shot. It also has great, mesmerizing special effects. Unfortunately for the film, its many characters are one-dimensional, to the point of being cartoon-like. Had more attention been paid to the characters'personalities, their growth as they cope with imminent death, 28 Weeks Later would have been a kick-ass film.
Sadly as it is, we only have a B-movie, only worth watching for its extraordinary special effects.